5 Merchandising Tips for Your eCommerce Store

June 1

By Jessalyn Rafalovich

Online shopping is at an all-time high, and retailers should be doing everything in their power to ensure their online stores are at the highest standards of the consumer. Competition out there is fierce, and to succeed in today’s eCommerce world, online stores need to be functional, easy to navigate, and offer as much convenience as possible. Below are a few simple and effective tips to help increase conversions on your eCommerce store.

1. Site Navigation

Implementing site navigation on your eCommerce site allows customers to filter their search and find exactly what they are looking for in a fast and precise manner. Shoppers can select various filters such as, price, color, size, brand, etc. This strategy allows consumers to find exactly what they are looking for without having to scroll through pages of products, which can get frustrating. Site navigation has been proven to result in higher conversion rates, increased customer satisfaction and is an excellent strategy to implement for all retail ecommerce stores.

3. Geo Targeting

Keeping in mind a consumer’s geographic location is a critical factor that many retailers forget about. A consumer in California, will have different shopping needs than a consumer in Toronto. That’s why it’s important to tailor your website accordingly. Geo merchandising allows your eCommerce site to be tailored to customer’s specific needs and wants, providing a sense of personalization. Nextopia’s geo target solution allows specific regions to be targeted with certain product promotions and recommendations.

4. Autocomplete

Autocomplete is one of the most powerful tools to implement on an eCommerce site. It allows consumers to type in a few letters to generate suggestions in a quick and accurate manner. This solution not only leads to customer satisfaction, but also increases conversions and overall sales. When choosing an autocomplete tool, make sure to choose a robust solution that is also able to detect and correct spelling errors. Some solutions even allow retailers to promote certain products as recommendations into the search bar.

5. Redirect from “No Results Found” Page

Retailers should be taking action to prevent consumers from reaching the dreaded “No Results Found” page. Simple tools can be implemented to avoid this, such as redirects. If a customer searches for a product that you don’t carry, this tool will redirect them to another product that they might be interested in based on their search. This will result in more sales than a “No Results Found” page, which may lead the consumer to search for the product on another site.

Conclusion

In order to get ahead of the competition in the eCommerce world, it is vital for retailers to invest in smart merchandising tools. The above tips are some of the easiest and most effective ways to improve the customer shopping experience, and all together, increasing online revenue.

This article was written by Jessalyn Rafalovich, on the partner marketing team at Nextopia. Nextopia provides powerful site search, navigation and merchandising solutions for internet retailers.